Turkey,Quinoa, Bulgar Cabbage Rolls [RECIPE]

First, Some Background Information…

Earlier this year, as I approached my 30^th year of life, I started to realize that I am without a doubt, slowly becoming my mother.  10 years ago, this realization would have frightened me, but these days, I embrace it.

My mother and I had the typical relationship when I was a teenager.  We butted heads daily, and I was convinced that she could never really understand anything about me.  But, as it turns out, it was moi, who was guilty of constantly misunderstanding her.  My mother has done everything she could since my siblings and I were conceived to make sure she took care of her 5 children.  Her and my father provided us with all the necessities that we needed to ensure our warmth, our safety and the promise of higher education.  However, if there is one fond memory of my mother that makes me proud, it is the food that she put on the table every day for dinner.  My mother was always on the search for ways to incorporate health into our diets.  She reduced oil, reduced salt, over emphasized the need for vegetables and so on.  This woman had us drinking coconut water long before it became “cool” to do so – buying coconuts and splitting them open and pouring the water inside the coconut into a cup for us.  She was quite the Betty Home Maker, with a full time job.  The magic about her cooking stemmed from her ability to make something delicious for your heart, and your body, with what she found in the fridge.  My mother could make meals revolve around the miscellaneous items that she had in her fridge.  And those meals are the very meals that I crave most today.  Sometimes I wish I still lived at home.   Sort of… 😉

So today, at 830AM on a Sunday morning – I am attempting to do the same thing.  Actually, I’m determined to do the same thing.  I want to make dinner tonight for J and I, so I look into my fridge and pantry for some inspiration.

Here’s what I find:

A red and yellow pepper that looks like they are maybe 1.5 days away from having to be tossed to the curb.

A huge head of cabbage that is taking up too much room in the fridge.  (Zehrs had a sale 3 weeks ago and it was only 29 cents a pound….I bought it with the same, “It’s such a good sale, how can I pass it up” mentality that I have with shoes…..granted – I didn’t know the going rate of cabbage, so I’m not even sure it was a sale.  Anyways,

A yellow and a white onion

A pack of carrots that were starting to soften

And

This amazing pack of quinoa bulgar mix.

That’s when the dinner inspiration hit!

I’ve been incorporating a lot of quinoa into my diet as of late.  I sub it mostly for rice.  With the weather getting colder, I naturally want to cook heartier meals that have a bit of girth to them.  With that said, girth doesn’t have to translate to “heavy”, “bad for you” or “grease”.

The thought of cabbage rolls entered my mind.  And I smile with excitement.  Yes folks, I smile to myself all the time.  You should try it too – it will make you a better person.  I’m also that person that bursts out laughing at the thought of something that happened last month.

Anyways, I look into the lazy susan to make sure I have a jar of my favourite pomodoro sauce on hand …and run off to the grocery store to pick up some ground turkey and some stewed tomatoes.

The end result of all these ingredients mixed together, and baked in an oven for 25 minutes?  Well, as J put it, “I’m not a fan of cabbage rolls, but seriously, these are amazing”.  J  My response to him was, as it usually is when I cook a meal,  “They are really good for you too!”

So try it – and let me know how it turns out for you.  Be warned, there is a bit of prep work involved, and the process is a bit time consuming.  But they are great for freezing so you can have a quick homemade dinner for later on this week, or next week – ready in about 3 mins.  I ended up using up all the turkey quinoa mix and yielded about 16 cabbage rolls.  Depending on how big or small you make them, that number will obviously change.

 

Turkey,Quinoa and Bulgar Cabbage Rolls

• 1 head of cabbage – leaves separated.  The easiest way to do this is to put the whole head of cabbage in a big pot of boiling water to soften the leaves and then take it out and run it under cold water before peeling off the leaves. You might have to do this a few times as you peel off eaves.
• 1 onion – diced ( I used the yellow one I found – but you could likely use an onion of any variety)
• 1 red pepper – diced
• 1 yellow pepper – diced
• Pinch of salt, dash of pepper.  (or, in my case,  a LOT of pepper, because I love black pepper)
• 1 carrot -diced
• 1 pack of lean ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes – drained of the juice and mashed
• 1 bag of PC’s quoina bulgar mix – cooked according to directions on the package
• 1 cup of pomodoro or tomato sauce (make your own, or buy it, like I do.  I love the White Linen brand from Costco)
• 2 garlic cloves – minced

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large skillet on medium to high heat, heat the oil.  Add in garlic and soften for about 30 seconds.  Add in chopped onions, yellow pepper, red pepper and carrots.
3. Then, add in the ground turkey.  Sauté until turkey is cooked.
4. Add the mashed stewed tomatoes.
5. Add in the cooked quoina and bulgar mix.  (Depending on how you prefer your quoinoa to turkey ratio, you might not need to use all the quoina bulgar mix.  I used all but 1.5 cups of it.)
6. Sprinkle in the pinch of salt and dash of pepper and remove skillet from heat.  Note – season to your taste – but be careful with the salt.  Sodium is awful for you so season with black pepper or chili flakes instead if you can.
7. Prepare an ice bath in a big bowl.  (cold water, and ice cubes in a large mixing bowl)
8. In a large pot of boiling water, place leaves in the pot for a minute or two to soften them further.  Take them out, and put in ice bath to cool them.  Then, lay them flat to make rolling easier.  I like to pat the leaves dry with a paper towel.
9. Scoop in some of the turkey quinoa mix on each leave and roll folding each side in and then rolling the bottom to the top.
10. Place in a baking dish with the flap side down.  Scoop about 2 tablespoons of pomodoro sauce and spread on the top of each cabbage roll.
11. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.  I warm up some of the sauce on the side in case some like their cabbage rolls to be saucier than mine.

There you go, simple as that!  Pair it with a nice salad and dig in – and let me know how you liked it!

Happy Wednesday Everyone:)

A.

 

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